


Blue October

by terminallyCosplay



Series: October Verse [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Birthday, Hamiltons first snow, Happy Birthday John Laurens, Homesick, Laurens first snow, M/M, October 28th, Sick Laurens, first snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:32:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8410420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terminallyCosplay/pseuds/terminallyCosplay
Summary: The alarm blares, and all John wants to do is go back to sleep. He buries his face into his pillows, and makes a low noise as he tries to ignore the abuse his ears and brain are taking. His mouth is dry, he feels wrung out and tired. He has a sinking feeling in his stomach, that today is one of those Not Great days, complete in his mind with capital letters, maybe even a trademark thrown onto the end of it. Lafayette actually comes into his room, turning off the alarm and clinking down a coffee mug onto his nightstand. He's whistling as he pulls back the curtains, letting the light in. As always, Lafayette is both kind and ruthless at the same moment.





	

The alarm blares, and all John wants to do is go back to sleep. He buries his face into his pillows, and makes a low noise as he tries to ignore the abuse his ears and brain are taking. His mouth is dry, he feels wrung out and tired. He has a sinking feeling in his stomach, that today is one of those  **Not Great** days, complete in his mind with capital letters, maybe even a trademark thrown onto the end of it. Lafayette actually comes into his room, turning off the alarm and clinking down a coffee mug onto his nightstand. He's whistling as he pulls back the curtains, letting the light in. As always, Lafayette is both kind and ruthless at the same moment.  

"I wow....  _ fuck you. _ " Is all that escapes from the mass of curls taking up residence in the bed. " _ You goddamn fucking baguette with hair-" _

Lafayette tuts at him as he kisses the top of his head. He runs a hand through some of the curls, encasing them for a moment. He then mercilessly rips the blankets off of him, exposing his bare chest to the world. John growls as he is hit by the cold air, shivering. It's too cold in the city, it's freezing. He curls up, trying to not think about how warm the Carolinas are, how he could still go to the beach if he wanted to, how he could be wearing shorts. He’s mainly glad he sleeps in more than boxers.

"Mon cher, mon petit, I  _ will _ dump you out of bed if you don't get up and move," Lafayette said, his voice low and full of menace. 

The threat is there as he moves away, ghosting from his side as he gives him space, getting out of arms reach. John generously flips him off as he rolls onto his back. He usually isn't this shitty in the morning, he contemplates apologizing, but it's not there. His heart’s not in it as he shivers. This was a  **Not Great** day after all, and that meant that his usual good nature was gone. 

"Too goddamn cold,” he bitched.

"I agree, mon petit, but it gets cold when it  _ snows _ ," Lafayette reminded him. 

"Snow?" came a bleary voice from the door. 

John finally cracks his eyes open as he looks up at Hamilton, feeling with some satisfaction that Alexander looks every bit as shit as he feels inside. Midterms were hell, and they were all too strung out and stressed for weeks on end. Law students at midterms were miserable, mean, and freaked out beyond belief. He makes a noise as he sits up, and then it happens. It rumbles deep, and suddenly, he's coughing. He's coughing, he can't stop. He's weak from feeling so winded, the congestion so settled in him that he can barely breathe. 

At least he knows why today is  **Not Great.**

Lafayette and Hamilton are suddenly both in his bed with him, and if his death wasn't looming, his heart might flutter. His heart might appreciate the two beautiful people in his bed. Alex is rubbing his sides as Lafayette roams over his back, murmuring little encouragements of deep breathing and relaxing. They’re at it for minutes, but Laurens feels like it’s hours.  

He lets out a low groan as he tries getting the air into him, not sure about how to move forward, how to think, how to relax. He can finally breathe freely again and sighs. 

“Sorry, sorry.”

Laurens breathes out those words, aching, eyes closed. 

“You should stay home today,” Laf said, squeezing his arm. “I can call Herc, he’ll come over, you two can just relax, watch your favorite movies. I can get Hamilton to class on time.”

“No, no, we’re starting new units today, I can’t.”

He climbs out of bed and makes his way to the window, looking out over the city, other protests and arguments failing him.

“Oh. Wow.” 

His heart does flutter this time, staring up at the grey sky, the white flakes falling. Without hesitation, sick, he opens the window and climbs out onto the fire escape. He’s out there to smoke usually, but he can’t because this is his first snow ever and he’s in New York City. He shivers more as his bare feet touch the snow, wiggling his toes into it. Already, he can feel the sharp bite and ache of the cold. He smiles wide, scooping some off the rail with his hands, ignoring the wet feeling on the bottom of his pants legs as the snow melted from his body heat..

“Alex, Alex.” He turns, holding it out. “It’s so cold! It kind of hurts, oh wow, but… snow!” 

Half asleep, his roommate- boyfriend?- climbs out as well, instantly hopping back in and trying to dry off his feet. “No- no, it’s freezing!” he states, practically hissing. “Ugh, I want nothing to do with that, ever!” 

“Alright, kids of the south- the Caribbean, sorry Alex, get back in. No cold weather half naked for either of you.” Lafayette hooks Laurens under the shoulder and hauls him into the window as he protests, because god-

“It’s my first snow!” he complains. 

Sometimes John positively hates that Lafayette basically has a foot of height on him. He huffs, winces, coughs, then goes and grabs a hoodie. He shoves himself into it, rubbing his arms and hands. God, it was cold. Lafayette laughed at him, then immediately stopped when Laurens started reaching for his clothes to get ready for class. 

“Stay home.” he requested.

He made a noise in response, then sighed. 

“I’ll take something, bring a bunch of cough drops, I’ll be okay.” he states. 

Alex is somewhere already, vanished off to his own room. Room’s a bit of an overstatement, Alex has an office. He either falls asleep working, or he shoves his way into either his or Lafayette’s bed. He murmurs a thanks as Lafayette holds out his coffee. He takes it, holding it, and his friend keeps his hands wrapped over his own for a moment, warming him up. 

“Call Hercules if you need something, I’ve got a long day of internship, okay mon petit?” He tells him. His voice is soft, and he trails his fingers through his curls. “I worry about you, and if you’re sick, who’s going to watch Alex?”

“Okay, point one- fuck you.” Alex starts from the other room. “Second of all, I don’t need you to babysit me. I’m a functioning adult-”

“Who doesn’t remember the date-”

“The time-” 

“Sleep is a necessary thing-”

“You can’t survive on coffee-” 

He lets out a huff and puts up his hands as he shakes his head. 

“I was better off when I was going to live with Aaron Burr.” he said with finality, sulking his way out of the room. 

John sighs as he goes. 

“I’ll be fine, Laf, but...thank you? For worrying. It’s kind of nice.” he says softly. He looked at him as he got his hoodie zipped up, and the rest of his coffee was consumed. He yawned as he headed off to find a pair of shoes, skipping over beat up converse and slipping his way into his uggs. They were fashionable, and better yet- they were really warm.

“Mon petit, I need you to bundle up more. You’re not used to the cold, and with you being under the weather, as they say.” 

Lafayette has a scarf and a hat ready, and Laurens rolls his eyes, but puts them on. He tries to protest when Lafayette pulls out a woolen peacoat, but is stuffed into it. He sighs as he gets his backpack. 

“What are you eating for breakfast?” Lafayette asked. 

“Um...protein bar? Some granola, maybe. We have apples right?” John asked. 

Lafayette sighs as he sees Alex come out, then rolls his eyes. “You two are going to be the death of me, once I get my own place again, I’m going to breathe.” 

He storms out, taking a moment to shove a couple muffins and some of John’s protein bars to him, sniffling and feigning sadness as he mutters about needing a shower. John sniffles, trying to clear his head as he shoves vitamin D and a protein bar into him. He hands Alex an energy drink, then a muffin. 

“We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry,” he mumbles. 

He goes down with him to the bus stop, reveling in the cold October air. He shivers a bit, looking upset. He’s both too warm and freezing. Alex is next to him complaining, shaking snow off of him like an angry cat that has been put outside. 

“Relax, Mon Ami,” he states, trying to calm his friend. 

“I don’t need it from you,  _ Mon Petit, Mon Angel, _ whatever he calls you.” he says, still irritated. 

John is unaware if the anger is because of the cold or because of Lafayette openly being close, but he eventually gets Hamilton onto the bus, formulating taunts and rebuttals and and- and his mind reels suddenly, staring blankly at the back of the New York Post.

 

October 28.

 

It hits him, overwhelming him from the inside out. His knees shake, and he’s suddenly not breathing right again. There’s a pit in his stomach, leaving him feeling exhausted and heavy. Alex notices and he holds him close, rubbing his sides. It was now an official  **Bad Day.**

“You really need to replace your inhaler, I can’t keep you breathing forever,” he told him. 

John offered a weak smile. He leaned back, trying to get the air in and out of him right. 

“Yeah, sorry, I’ll try to keep the oxygen coming in,” he wheezes slightly.

“As shitty as admitting it is, maybe- just maybe- Lafayette was right. You don’t look great, you seem kind of out of it. Maybe the best thing to do is put you in a cab home?” he offers.

John shakes his head. 

“I’ll be okay.” 

He gets off the bus and says goodbye to Alexander as the two retreat to opposite ends of Columbia University. He sighs as he tries not to think too much. He really hadn’t realize it was his birthday already. 

He rubs his forehead, trying not to think about home, his family, anything. He had never felt so homesick until that moment. He had never felt so lost either. Yeah, sure, he had a boyfriend, one he had met in the summer before the semester started, he had his friends Hercules and Lafayette. Hell, even had Aaron Burr, sometimes. However, he was sure none of them new when his birthday was, or that it was today. None of them had mentioned it this morning and he kept it pretty quiet online too. 

He made it through his classes in a haze, he wanted to escape, wanted to go  _ home. _ His mind and heart were torn, images of the old family plantation in his head as he imagined the fields, now full of flowers, close to the home and sown full of pain over the years. He felt his stomach clench, thoughts of him and Alex, intertwined in those flowers together, breathing in, staring at the sun, the clouds, the night skies, anything, staring into the galaxies, into each other-

He shoves himself out of his seat and before he knows it, he’s out of the room and dialing Hercules. 

“Yo, my man, what’s up?” he asks, his voice booming. 

John doesn’t even realize his nerves are so frayed that he starts crying on the phone instead of speaking. 

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Get outside the library, I’ll be there, can you do that?”

He sniffles, hiccups, says something, and he hopes it makes sense, that he’s saying yes. 

“Alright. Nineteen minutes, and counting.” 

 

John isn’t much better as he waits outside the library. He’s shivering now, and he can barely see straight. God, he just wants to be home. Hercules finally pulls up, and John has been patiently counting down the time. Herc arrived two minutes ahead of schedule, and this makes him more aware of home here versus home there. He tries getting his feet going, when a pair of hands hook onto his arm and start leading him towards the vehicle. He mumbles something, sniffles agains because he wants to be home in the warmth with his cats. 

“One step in front of the other.” Alex guides him. 

John isn’t sure how he makes it in the car. He’s not sure how he gets home, or into his bed. He’s aware of butterfly light kisses on his eyelids, his cheekbones, and he’s aware of those familiar voices. How many of them? He’s warm, the voices stop. He drifts off, thinking of those fields. 

 

“Do you think he’ll wake up soon?”

The voice is high, worried, it tugs on a memory, he can’t quite place.

“Please for once, quit talking. He needs rest.”  

Warm hands ghost over his face and he winces, rattling a deep cough from his depths, jerking him awake. 

“What did he say?”

“Mom, I think? He’s been mumbling nonsense all afternoon-”

It was the same voice, familiar, keening, and he felt it tug at his heart, light his world with color of again. 

There was whistling, the curtains ripped open-

“You damn baguette,” he wheezed out. He rolled onto his side, and he swore too many people sighed at once, like a gust of wind tore through the small space. 

“John.” 

Alex’s hands were in his first, and he blinked in surprise, rubbing his eyes. 

“Contacts,” John mumbled as he blinked him- them? Into focus. 

“Er. Surprise?” 

“You’re the worst, Burr.” 

Lafayette kissed his forehead. 

“I, what am I? Dead? Shot?” he was so disoriented, his head was spinning. 

“What? No, none of that. We uh-” Alex started to stammer out.

“Happy Birthday,” Angelica said with a soft smile. 

He tried sitting up, and Lafayette slipped into bed beside him, helping him up and supporting them. 

“Happy birthday,” The frenchman echoed. “We were going to throw a great party, but then someone had to get the flu,” he told him as he rubbed his sides, helping him breathe. 

“You knew?” 

“Of course, Hercules remembers from when he was working security at that club you liked.” Eliza said, sitting at the foot of the bed. 

John blinked around at them, and if he started crying, they would blame it on him being sick. All in all, the party still wasn’t bad, but he didn’t partake in pizza. He did, however, enjoy opening up the presents, and enjoying everyone’s presence. Home wasn’t as far as he thought, and besides, sitting next to Hamilton and watching snow was pretty great too. He was soon asleep by his side, curled into his warmth and intertwined. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wish I had actually come up with calling Lafayette a baguette with too much hair, I didn't. Happy Birthday, My dearest, Laurens.


End file.
